Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing says he will withdraw the controversial Payroll Tax.
And there will also be an amnesty on National Health Insurance Plan Programme that will waive penalty arrears, with persons still being required to pay the principal amount, following consultation with NHIP.
“It is my Government’s intention, during the next sitting of the House of Assembly, to formally withdraw the Payroll Tax Bill 2014 from the House of Assembly,” the Premier said in a national address which contained measures that can be described as a stimulus package.
The Premier added: “As a Government, we no longer have the opportunity to implement a broad base tax that would have had the least impact on the unemployed. With the failure to pass the payroll tax, we must also recognize the task of providing for the people, through the creation of jobs, the delivery of capital projects and the provision of critical services will be even more challenging, but this is a challenge that we are committed to overcome. The Payroll tax was intended to be the broad base taxation measure component of the Tax Rationalization Strategy that was presented to the people of this county over the past several months and the House of Assembly in the past week. The Payroll Tax Bill, from all indications during the debate in the House of Assembly, did not receive the majority support in the House of Assembly and it was left at the stage of its second reading.”
He said it is also intended that going forward, NHIP penalties will be reduced from the current 10% to 3%, non-compounding.
The Premier also announced that he will reduce the recently-approved increase in business license in some areas by fifty percent, putting focus particularly on SME and tourism related businesses.
“We will also reduce the Freight and Insurance Tax (FIT) from 15% to 7.5%. I hasten to add that it was our hope to eliminate both of these taxation measures entirely with the implementation of the payroll tax, but we are now unable to do so until we are confident that the revenue gap is bridged in a sustainable manner,” he said.
Pic Premier Ewing
